Cyathus olla Batch: Pers.
Syn. Meth. Fung.: 237. 1801.

Common Name: Bird's Nest Fungus

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body at maturity 10-15 mm in height, up to 13 mm broad, the base narrow, tapering upward, flaring at the mouth; margin frequently wavy, occasionally slightly reflexed; when young the mouth covered with a cream to buff-brown membranous lid (epiphragm); peridium tough, pliant, the outer surface with appressed, fine, brownish-grey hairs, inner surface smooth, shiny, grey, not striate, but sometimes with faint concentric bands; peridioles, disc-shaped silvery-grey, enclosed in a translucent to whitish thin membrane (use hand-lense) and attached to the inner cup surface or to each other via a short, white cord (funiculus).

• Spores

  Spores 10-12 x 6.5-7.5 µm, elliptical, smooth, thin-walled; spores hyaline.

• Habitat

  Scattered to clustered on soil, often near or on woody debris; fruiting throughout the mushroom season.

• Edibility

  Unknown. Too tough and small to be of culinary value.

• Comments

  The nature of the peridium and peridioles are key to identifying Bird's Nest fungi. In the case of Cyathus olla, the outer peridium is covered with appressed, fine, brownish-grey, hairs, while the inner cup surface surface is smooth, silvery to lead-grey as are the relatively large peridioles. Two other Cyathus species occur in our area. They include Cyathus striatus, which is distinguished by a shaggy, outer peridium and strongly, plicate-striate inner cup surface, and Cyathus stercoreus which has a narrower, cone-shaped nest, also has a shaggy exterior, a smooth, dark, inner peridium, and black, not grey peridioles. Besides the typical form of Cyathus olla, we have also found var. anglicus which is larger, and has a sulcate cup margin, a feature which could cause confusion with Cyathus striatus, but the latter as noted above has a shaggier aspect, and a conspicuously striate-plicate inner cup surface.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Nathan Wilson: Cyathus olla (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Cyathus olla (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Cyathus olla (CP) -- part of a massive fruiting that was 1-3 meters wide for over 100 meters!
  • Michael Wood: Cyathus olla (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Cyathus olla (CP)
  • Na Grzyby: Cyathus olla (D & CP)
  • George Barron: Cyathus olla (D & CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 780 (P)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 2): sp. 494 (D, I, & CP)
  • Brodie: p. 154 (D), p. 152 (P)

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)